Mercedes power approaching milestones

Mercedes’ engine power is approaching two notable milestones, after Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Since the manufacturer entered Formula One in 1954, its engines have scored 93 pole positions to place the German marque 4th on the all-time list, only trailing Ferrari, Renault and Ford.

However, the figure even closer to the magic 100 mark is the number of race wins. Mercedes has powered the driver on the top step of the podium 96 times in the past 59 years, with Jenson Button claiming the most recent win at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix for McLaren.

Indeed, much of Mercedes’ success has come since they agreed to power McLaren in 1995. In this time, the team has won one constructors’ title and three drivers’ championships, with the era seeing some spectacular highs. As McLaren are reportedly considering a switch to Honda engines for 2015, then it could be the Mercedes works team which represents the bright future of the German manufacturer’s engines in the sport.

The seeds were sown for the works team in 2009, when Brawn GP emerged from Honda Racing, and Mercedes offered to supply the team with engines. This resulted in eight wins for the team as they romped to both titles, and two wins for McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton took Mercedes’ total to ten in 2009 alone.

The team initially entered Formula One in 1954 as a works team, winning nine races during just two seasons as one of the greatest driver pairings in F1 history, Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, dominated. However, since their comeback in 2010, the team has failed to match this form, winning just once in China last season.

However, today’s pole position reinforces the improvement in fortunes for the German manufacturer. It is also the first time Mercedes has scored back-to-back pole since 1955. That year, Fangio and Moss finished first and second respectively in the championship – a good omen for Rosberg and Hamilton, perhaps?

Luke Smith is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Richland F1. Having started the website in March 2012, he has gone on to become one of the youngest members of the Formula 1 paddock after joining American broadcaster NBC Sports at the beginning of the 2013 season. Luke now works as the network's lead F1 writer, supporting the TV coverage on nbcsports.com.
Luke's work has also been featured on NBC News, Yahoo! Sports, The Times, The Independent and Forbes, and he has also appeared on CNBC's TV series "One Second in F1 Racing".